The beloved XA cameras endeared themselves to me over a long period of time. I first picked up an XA in 1982 for bicycle touring, its size and hi-spec being the attractions. That camera died from a failed shutter and some IC board malfunction and was not repaired by OLYMPUS themselves when they had their own service facility in Melbourne (Australia) c. 1985.

Another XA was bought off eBay from a guy in San Diego in 2001. Mint condition and did just the trick in rekindling everything odd and good about the XA: tiny, feature packed yet at the same time basic, fiddly, very sharp and contrasty lens and especially, prone to niggly hangups (read: faults!). This XA packed up on me very suddenly in Queenstown, New Zealand in 2005. The shutter would not fire, and if it did, stayed open. Attempting to remove the film, the back cover latch broke off. In a fit of rage I had to set it aside and move to a digital AF compact. I faithfully brought the XA home and traded to a camera store for the princely sum of $5.00. That's the last I saw of it. Probably uneconomical to repair and just out of favour with the march of speed and convenience hallmarking digital.